“What is it?”

18N on Barree Straight-line. (Photo by Sam Wheland.)

—My brother and I had a fevered discussion about this photograph. That’s because it’s on Barree Straight-line, which is in the area we photograph trains.
The May 2018 entry in my Norfolk Southern Employees’ Photography-Contest calendar is a Norfolk Southern auto-rack train on Barree Straight-line.
We’ve been there, but the other end. It’s near Altoona, east of Tyrone. My brother and I got familiar with what trains we’ll see, especially my brother.
So “Hey Jack. What train do you think this is?”
“11J,” he said.
“I don’t think so. It’s morning; the fog hasn’t lifted yet. 11J is afternoon, and westbound. This train looks eastbound to me. It’s at the other end of Barree Straight-line; we never shot there.”
My brother is management. He manages electricity generation in the Boston area. Unfortunately I’m a retired Irish bus-driver, so I don’t cave easily.
“How about 27N? That’s early morning.”
“27N is westbound too” (odd are westbound). “This looks like it was shot off a highway overpass. There may be a signal-bridge at the west end of Barree Straight-line; all there is is a grade-crossing. If there’s a signal-bridge, Wheland had to climb it, and there are barriers.”
So what other eastbound auto-racks are morning? 36A often has auto-racks, but it’s not solid auto-racks. This train looks solid.

18N in Gallitzin. (Photo by Jack Hughes.)

I called my railfan friend in Altoona — he knows everything. “18N” he suggested. My brother shot 18N in Gallitzin a few years ago. We knew it was 18N because the train’s engineer called out a nearby signal, and we heard that on our railroad-radio scanners.
The west end of Barree Straight-line is just that grade-crossing into tiny Barree. But there is a highway overpass at the east end.
A track supervisor named “Pearson” rode the line from Tyrone to Barree in his Chevy pickup track-mobile. He stopped to check us out. I had my tripod set up trackside.
“What are you guys doing?” he asked.
“Livin’ the dream,” my brother exclaimed. “We’re waiting for 04T (Amtrak’s eastbound Pennsylvanian),” I added; “and C42 (a local) just passed.”
“These guys are serious. I doubt they’ll do anything stupid.”
He left us alone. “Move if you have to.” “Already did,” I said. “They drove around us.”